At the northernmost edges of the UK lies Unst, one of the North Isles of the Shetland Islands. The quiet island off the Northeast of the Scottish Mainland only has a population of 632. And yet, it will soon be home to a main plank of the UK space effort, the SaxaVord Spaceport, which is increasingly attracting the attention of launch vehicle companies – seven so far, to be exact.
The £43 million privately funded venture, which is in rapid construction, already boasts launch agreements with Lockheed Martin, ABL Space Systems, Skyrora, Astra, HyImpulse Technologies, Venture Orbital Systems (VOS) and C6 Launch Systems.
• US global aerospace and defence giant Lockheed Martin, along with its rocket technology partner ABL Space Systems, plan mainly to use SaxaVord for the launch of the RS1 rocket on the “Pathfinder” flight early next year.
• Skyrora, a British rocket company headquartered on Princes Street in Edinburgh, is also gearing up to produce an orbital launch from the site with its 23-metre Skyrora XL rocket in 2023.
• Astra Space has partnered with SaxaVord to provide dedicated orbital launch services, with rocket launches slated to start in 2023.
• German start-up HyImpulse Technologies is planning to demonstrate its SR75 suborbital sounding rocket from the spaceport this autumn.
• Earlier this year French small-launch rocket developer VOS signed a deal to advance plans for the first launch of its rockets in 2024.
• An early adopter, Canadian company C6 Launch Systems, signed an agreement in 2020 to make SaxaVord its primary launch facility.
As such, SaxaVord is rapidly outperforming the Sutherland Spaceport, the first announced in Scotland, which has only one confirmed prospective user, Orbex. The original commitment to Sutherland from Lockheed Martin was, in effect, ended by its move to SaxaVord. Concerns about Sutherland’s limitations – its rocket trajectories over nearby oil fields and restrictions on launch frequency – have prompted some rocket providers to choose SaxaVord over its competitor.
Still from promotional video showing RS-1 rocket on its launch pad at Unst, Shetland Islands. Courtesy: ABL
Although there are other spaceports being built across the UK – including Newquay in Cornwall, which is likely to take the prize for the first horizontal launch from the UK via Virgin Orbit’s operation – SaxaVord stands to become the UK’s first operational vertical satellite launch facility, and perhaps its most used too. The remote spaceport will feature three launchpads at the Lamba Ness peninsula in Unst. The target is for 30 launches of small satellites into either polar or sun-synchronous low-Earth orbits (LEO) a year.
Post Script:In other news, small-launch vehicle developer Isar Aerospace is sticking to South America for its launches. The European company has opted to launch its Spectrum rocket from the new Diamant complex at the Guiana Space Center, French Guiana, after signing an agreement with the French space agency CNES last week. The new site, which will enable launches to orbits ranging from near-equatorial to polar, is expected to host launches from the first half of 2024.
